(Day 8 ) Friday 25 seb.

Got up early ..took a shower.. got my yogurt.. and walked up to TMT to do the morning class!
COACH: Andreas Hesselbâck (from Sweden, pro mma fighter, nice fellow with a lot of humor, got skills).
# Started the training with the usual warm-up … running, bearcrawl, farmers walk, shrimping, neck flips, butt-drops, “getup´s” (and as the other days when we did the neck-flips we lay in a circle and Andreas started the count 1-50 front up, by counting loud…. Then the next in line counted 1-50..next one 1-50 side to side and … next on the left side… right side… and so on..).
- While we were swaiting Ray appeared with a pink eye (infected) and gave a warning about not training when ones got something nasty and contagious… ( there were already some guys there had be contaminated)
# Technical part: I was dummy for Andreas so might have missed some details and gone on routine…
Start ass down and opponent on his knees… armdrag and skoupe ass to the side so you get one leg free… and be able to take his back by swinging the free leg over him and have both hooks in… shooters stile :)
If he is protecting his side so you won’t be able to get that food in.. (pretend that your right hip-side is down) underhook his left arm with your left.. and put right lowerarm across his neck and close the hands in a wrestlers grip ( palm against palm). When your push your right arm down and lift the left ..,it will HURT like hell and force him to roll… right into your seatbelt … then there are a lot of options… like RNC or the shorter vers. of RNC …use the right arm to “knife” his trout and the left to push down on his left shoulder … needed to be closed in the wrestlers grip.. and kind of turn the right one into his trout and up at the same time… like baseball choke . Another option is going strait to the armbar by “bumbing your hip up and swinging around…

Drilled that a bit… and went to doing a lot of sparring/rolling….
At the end of the class my eye was starting to itch and get red… so went home … took a bath washed all my gear and clothes with dettol (disinfection) and had a taxi drive me to the pharmacy to bye eye drops… ( and antibiotic )… be aware they tend to give you that way too often… but it works) the normal pharmacy was out of eye drops so went to the Central mall .. and did some shopping and got my “dope”..
By the time I was home my eyes was filled with pus and hurt like crap… so for now.. no more mma-training for me, and some of the other guys (until the eyes is better) but will do some running and strength I think…. might be for the better... my strain in the shoulder needs a pause, it´s starting hurt a bit!!!
This day is over and out….

( 23 days left in Thailand )

(Day 7) Thursday 24 seb.

My shoulders look a bit better to day, so after some breakfast (yogurt with muesli and fruit ..jum jum) ..off to the morning class…

COACH: RAY ELBE
# We started by the usual warm-up … running, bearcrawl, farmers walk, shrimping, neck flips, butt-drops, “getup´s” . and then strait on with the…
# technical part:
- first the basic of the halfguard (being a mixed class we got ALL the fundamental, kind of nice.. because when one train for a long time, you tend to forget some of the little things and just do them but not knowing why!!) some key words: *always be on the side/ribs NEVER flat on your back… *get a deep/high underhook with the upper arm right away. *defend and control your head by either controlling opponents’ arm (the one he “stands” on) or cover the head.
We worked with getting up from the halfguard …
- Sweep. *shrimp and get your top leg into the guard in front of his hip…and if he starts to push your head (or something like that) *simultaneously - kick with your upper leg and - pull with your lower leg (it should be hooking his leg to prevent him to pass). and a straight bendoverroll “getup” with one knee up and controlling both his legs with your hands.... importent: have a good posture and get up one one hand!

#Cardio/fit part
As we did the other day as well…in the middle of the schedule we had some workout…
It’s preformed like circle-training with the timer running… first 4*4 minutes of work … 4minuts of rest/water and 4*4 minutes of work
Today we had: 8 counters (kind of like a burpee ), jumps (touch the floor and up), sit-ups, butt-drops, bearcrawl (fast to the middle and a bit slower out), standing snow-angles, shoulder-push-ups, box n´run!
#Ended with a lot of rolling/sparring… lost count of rounds!
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Like the structure: # warm-up # technique /drill # cardio/fit # sparring as long as there is some breaks and a lot of water… one can give it a lot all the way through the session!
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When the training was over I went back to my bungalow and…. eat, protein shake, water, sleep (seams to do that a lot!!).. Eat some more and all the usual stuff..
( 24 days left in Thailand )

(Day 6 ) Wednesday 23 sep.

This has been a slow day… so not much to write…
My shoulders and top of the back didn’t exactly like the combo (from yesterday): sunburns - sweat - rolling/sparring and repeatedly have some guy messing around on my back!! Had to let them heal … therefore no MMA today.. Instead I was out running and tried to swim (but it was painful to get chlorine into the wounds so that didn´t work either) It´s been raining a lot and with no training I got the time to finish the layout of Redbeard´s tale and upload some pictures…
Been a bit around the camp and watch the Thai-training… looked really nice and the trainers push the students HARD… but with a smile and a lot of humor ...like falling to the ground playing dead!! That is if the student hits like he should, and connect with a good punch or knee! I really like the atmosphere here. There are friendly people all over.. and so far no sour faces!! Found a place were I could buy some milk (pasteurized low fat “fresh” milk, cost 40bt/ltr.) and my evening shake suddenly tasted a LOT better ..Kind of like strawberry milkshake from Mac D …nice!
(More to come.. )
(25 days left in Thailand)

(Day 5 ) Tuesday seb. 22

Finally the day arrived that I was her for!! Today I will start to train! Got up early and had some breakfast at floraville´s restaurant ( grown quite found of that place! ) packed all my new gear and off to TMT (shopped some brand new at TMT on arrival .. needed some new glowes and gear … and had to save some pounds in my luggage so I could bring protein powder and supplies from DK).
The mma class was teached by head couch Ray Elbe a BJJ brown belt/pro mma fighter from the big US of A!! He seams to be be a cool guy with a nice approach to MMA-training … we started out by doing some of the usual running, swimming, farmers walk, shrimping and so on.. the first thing we worked on was how to move/lay on top on a grounded opponent when he was in turtle pos. one thing in particular I liked.. he kind of draw a cross on the back of the opponent.. when you lie on him you need to be in the square closest to your body… nice way of telling how to have good base and a lot of weight on him..

- Did some "gaaa choke" and front... "RNC" from the sprawl pos. as well!!

the class ended with a lot of sparring think it was 8 rounds of 3 min with new opponent pr. Round.

There was a class later that day but I was hurting like h.. course to my sunburn and rolling I had a lot of spots with no/little skin on my shoulders and I needed to take care of them… so I just looked and took notes!
It started by some warm-up then a lot of the camps Thai coaches came and took all the guy one on one pad work (holy shit a pace!!!!) after 30 min and a lot of sweat Ray broth in a guy called..Brian Ebersole
By being a student of Matt Thornton he is a talented grappler and he was the teacher the rest of the class with Ray helping … best technique/punch line… when someone’s try too pass your guard (in mma) just stand up!!
The right way of course!! Looked a lot like the way shooters do it.. but some small differences..Ended the day with a good meal.. (although a bit too spicy) and the usual …budget, Skype, blog , water, sleep!

( 26 days left in thailand!!)

(Day 4) Monday seb. 21
( part 2/ 2)
www.phiphicruiser3.com
Out in the middle of nowhere we changed boat (those of us that was on the daytrip) this boat was equipped with gear to dive… and this was one of the reasons I was here… I just love to dive/snorkeling! A diver told me afterwards that he had seen me on 6 meters of water … ( I was following a beautiful fish, and when it went down so did I… so kind of lost track of depth !!) .. the corrals were awesome with a lot of color and wildlife… fish all over…. Amassing!! We had about 1 hour to play.
Then off to the main island of Phi Phi… at the phi phi hotel to eat and then some sightseeing..

Really nice island (made some great footage… might put some up at the blog later) the trip home was a bit boring.. straight home with no stops…. Shared cab with a couple from Spain.. and as always I forgot their names! At home after I had eaten.. I went for a swim… and a walk around the camp..
and at the end of the day as always: budget, Skype, blog , sleep!

This trip is great but might consider taking the more expensive one with speedboat.. less crowded and gets closer to all the exiting stuff!

( 27 days left in thailand!!)

(Day 4) Monday seb. 21
(part 1/ 2)
Got kind of a sudden start to day… managed somehow to sleep from the alarm clock. But luckily the potier at floraville, knew of my plans for the day.. so she got me out of bed by knocking on my window!

I went to see the island of Phi Phi with a boadtrip/cruise..

becourse of the late start on my day the cabdriver was in a hurry.. so the ride to Phuket harbor was kind of scary (Thai-people drive like maniacs and kind of drive where they want. That´ll be in the middle of the road ect. with no distance to the car/motorbike in front of them.. and if they have to cross the road they´ll just start driving hoping that all the cars stop!! Scary shit!! )
The cruise was nice although it was a bit crowded.… ( note: take the speedboat next time!!!) but the trip was amassing lot of beautiful nature and got to see THE BEACH ( like in the di´ caprio movie)

continue in next part...

(Day 3) Sunday Seb. 20

I might have been sleeping a bit to much yesterday… got up at 5:30 am!
Had some breakfast at the restaurant (good superb food) at floraville and wondered what to do with my day …no possibility for some private mma training today (all the instructors was away fighting) and there is no schedule on Sundays!
Tried to get online.. but the wireless connection sucks… so did some swimming ( good for my shoulder that I managed to fuck-up just 14 days before… but only some muscular damage, the dislocated shoulder popped right back)…. (And here i need to make a note: remember NOT to swim in the sun without sunblock at middel of the day)…got burned :(
But while swimming I met a couple from Australia who became sick on arrival, they seemed nice… but my fucking memory did what it does best.. forgot there names! They told me of the Central mall down town. So after some lunch I went by cap to Phuket town to see this big mall and get some supplies… and quest what … I found a Starbucks (happy me!!!) after walking around for some hours and not getting a clue.. coffee ( with chocolate) and a muffin was pure happiness! ( note to big A… no strawberry / blueberry -pies!!)
Took a cap back at half the price it cost me to get there (200bt) and started this blog, checked my mail and did some Skype/messenger with people back home… day spend!
( 28 days left in thailand!!)

THAILAND (Tiger muay thai / MMA -camp) 2009

This is the tale of my first trip to Thailand

I had been planning this trip for more than one year… so off course….surprise…panic… "there is only 2 weeks till it starts"!!! Needed to check up on the last couple of things…
1. Passport
2. Visa?
3. Budget
4. And so on..
Note to me: remember that you don´t need to waite until last call if you need to check something or need to buy things!
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(Day 1) Friday Seb. 18 and..
(Day 2) Saturday Seb. 19
Today has been a long day… started by driving to the airport… then realize that the seat (in the plain) was way too small, by being placed up against a curved wall, and that I was going to sit next to a BIG Chinese guy… that snorted, farted, smelled, punched and made funny noises ALL the way… at that time 10 hours seemed as a long time! But I was on my way! :) armed with “Got Fight” by Forrest Griffin ( I recommend that you read it…it´s awesome!! ) so time flow by (slowly)..I hate to fly it´s boooorrrrring!!!!

CBH /Bangkok 10 hours and no sleep as I had hoped! From Bangkok to Phuket 1 hour with a aircon directly at my face…then a little drive (30 minute with a cap arranged by TMT, so all I needed to do was to find the guy with my name on a sign) and I was arrived...

5 months ago I had TMT book me a room at Floraville bungalow resort http://www.floravillephuket.com/ it was one of the expensive ones but it was recommended me by Elina (shooters) who had been there before! … It was a good choice… What a nice place!
I spend the rest of the day eating, drinking, sleeping, figure out how to get online, update my budget on my laptop… and try to get familiar with the climate.
( 29 days left in thailand!!)